Lil’ Bob and The Lollipops – Sweet Soul Swinger and the Jin Singles CD

Mention Lil Bob and the Lollipops to south Louisiana music fans of a certain age and smiles usually crosses their faces. They reminisce about good times at the Southern Club and Bradford’s White Eagle in Opelousas, the Step Inn Club in Lawtell and the Evangeline Club in Ville Platte. Some loudly proclaim that Lil Bob should have been as big as Sam Cooke, Otis Redding or other soul singers of that era.All the fuss is ironic for a singer and drummer who had only one original hit, “I Got Loaded.” Yet that 1965 smash became can be heard in the 1987 movie, “Bull Durham.” It’s still performed by swamp pop, zydeco and blues bands across the globe.

Lil Bob’s undying popularity, before and after that hit, prompted Floyd Soileau to call the band into his JIN studio to record a full album. “He had a hot group and was playing all the different clubs,” recalls Soileau. “His band was like an orchestra with the horn section. He could compete with the big groups, like Bobby Bland and all those guys. They pretty much self produced it in the studio. I just turned some knobs and got the session finished up. The album did quite well over the years.”

Released in the late 1960s, the “Sweet Soul Swinger” album did so well that it’s back in 2017. Here’s the original, 10-song album in its full glory, along with some early singles released on JIN. Fans will recognize the covers of James Brown, Gene Chandler, James Carr and other legends, all marinating in Lil Bob’s flavorful bayou soul.

Born as Camille Bob in 1937 in Arnaudville, Bob died in 2015 after a career that put him into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. Bob’s 75^th birthday party was front-page news in the Opelousas Daily World, although he had long retired and was in a nursing home. His celebrated talent is no longer just a dancehall memory. The “Sweet Soul Swinger” is still swinging in a new millennium. -Herman Fuselier

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